Maera Birch
Maera Birch is an archmancer of pyromancy, hailing from the Elven continent of Ludwag. A Noble Upbringing Her parents, who are wealthy nobles serving closely under their government, were adamant about teaching Maera and her 3 sisters with the most expensive education available. However, whilst their hopes for their children was for them to go into politics, Maera - who had always been kind-hearted and eccentric - had little interest in the world of intrigue, manipulation and backstabbing. She began neglecting her politics studies in favour of history, philosophy and cultures across Azura - taking particular interest in the continent of Trepheon and its precursor civilisation, Dormia. Along with her fascination with ancient history, Maera loved learning about magic and nagged her parents incessantly to hire her a pyromancy tutor - a request they eventually caved into. Throughout her early teens up to her twenties, Maera studied non-stop, desperate to achieve what she saw as not a power of destruction, but an element which has given life to civilisations across time. Being a rather “fiery” child, Maera had dreams of swashbuckling adventures and magic duels. She was very much an adrenaline junkie, and was desperate to travel the world to put into practice the things she had only read about and experience the history and cultures of Azura herself. Entering Vitae When she was 22, Maera’s tutor agreed that she was in a good shape (mentally and physically) to enter vitae. She passed the trials using her smarts and philosophical knowledge and practiced her new powers every day, opting for a defencive dueling style which she could use to deceive opponents into thinking she was a weak adversary who couldn’t fight. However, her tutor was concerned; he felt that if Maera was not more aggressive with her mancy then her “Inner Flame” (as he called it) would build up inside her and result in unleashing a manifestation of her negative emotions such as anger, sadness, etc. A FIERY Curiosity... At 25, Maera’s thirst for adventure grew to the height that she could no longer simply sit in Ludwag all her life. She left her home to travel the globe, frequenting places such as Keleva, Hallmond, Trepheon and even the frozen wasteland of Nerius. She met her best friend, Cristo Freevum, whilst the two happened to be investigating the same temple ruins in her home of Ludwag. He, too, was a pyromancer which allowed them both to train and learn from each other’s styles and experiences. When she first arrived in Trepheon, Maera began working for a kind librarian in the Centralian Kingdom who let her stay in the attic, and gave Maera access to the library’s vast archives of knowledge. She journeyed across Trepheon throughout her younger years, finding new places to practice and meditate, and finding priceless artifacts such as ancient tomes to enrich her knowledge of the world and her mancy (before selling them on to interested clients in order to sustain her expensive and dangerous lifestyle). When not exploring ruins, Maera was practicing and studying, gradually increasing her proficiency with her powers. Coming across many friends, acquaintances, lovers and rivals in her adventures, Maera lead a very rich younger life filled with action. Changing Disposition Now, you might be wondering how a woman who is now a cool-headed pacifist came to be that way, considering her exciting life. As she reached the end of her physical prime, Maera’s optimistic vision of the world began to change when Cristo was killed by rival treasure hunters in a ruin in Neo-Keleva. Just like her tutor warned, Maera’s “inner flame” was released and she slaughtered the killers in a blind rage, unleashing a raw power caused by her build up of emotion. Once her fit had finished, Maera found herself surrounded by charred corpses, including that of her friend. Maera continued to travel Azura alone after that, but her mindset was not the same. Her optimism and upbeat attitude was gone, and she felt like her lust for adventure was fading. She was severely depressed during this time, and often had outbursts of rage triggered by her traumatic experience. This lead her to approach her old tutor for advice, who told her that she should frequently take out her anger through using her powers more aggressively to kill others. Maera did not want to become a killer by trade, however, and attempted to avoid killing whenever possible. Eventually, she put away her tomb raider’s gear - throwing her sword into the ocean - and returned to settle down in Trepheon at the library, which she had inherited after the lonely owner’s death. The Spira's Philosophy Depressed and lonely for many months, Maera took a pilgrimage to the Northern Spire to clear her mind and try to meditate in peace. This is where she met an isolated monk, calling himself The Spira. He was in a serene state of mind, and spoke as if nothing in the world could harm him. For many years, she travelled to and from the spire to visit and meditate with the man, who taught her his own worldview - one of peace and tranquility. Though he eventually died of his old age, Maera felt that he lived on through her; indeed, Maera still sometimes teaches other mancers the ways of The Spira. The monk’s last gift to Maera was a staff he used to channel his aeromancy through - a technique he had taught Maera in order to quell her “inner flame”, as well as control it so that she could unleash it at will (depending on how much energy she has, and how much anger she has built up. The longer the gap she takes between using her “inner flame”, the more powerful it is). Second Vitae It was not until her late 50’s that Maera’s evolved and adapted style of mancy, which focused on calmness and self-restraint, began to reach higher lengths of its full potential. From her lifestyle as a peaceful scholar, practicing mancy for meditation purposes and rarely for combat, Maera became an archmancer specialising in defence, utilising powerful attacks to keep an enemy at a distance. This style also meant she kept her rage and raw power within her, able to be released for controlled devastating area-of-effect and environmental attacks.